Media Beat: July 14, 2017

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says Edmonton’s huge Habitat for Humanity project is a real highlight.

The Carters are helping with construction in southeast Edmonton this week on the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project (CWP), along with Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood and hundreds of other volunteers — Global News

The Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation is talking to federal officials about turning the mothballed complex into a secure repository for the country’s endangered audio-visual archive.

The foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to preservation, is working with the CBC to document its analog collection dating from the 1930s — a move that will help smooth its eventual transfer to the foundation’s custody.

Since its creation in 2001, Canada's private and public broadcasters and the Ministry of Canadian Heritage have supported the Foundation and its mandate to collect, preserve and celebrate the history of Canadian broadcasting.

Here is a video promoting the Foundation in 2014 that tells its own story

A few facts about ‘Warren’s Network’

For those who subscribe to Warren Cosford’s ‘Lists,’ the free e-mail service containing reader correspondence, facts, conspiracy theories, perceived outrages, and pop culture musings, you will probably agree with me that these dispatches can, at various times, be fascinating, infuriating and informative reads.

Sometimes all in one read.

In a fashion, he has developed a readership that is as passionate as that cultivated by Bob Lefsetz, only Cosford’s style is to aggregate ideas of interest, comment and then print reader generated responses.

His recent musing on Larry 'Gagman' MacInnis’s comments on Facebook teasing his upcoming memoir inspired a bookshelf of anecdotes from readers.

About the good, the bad and ‘truths’ about an era long ago when CHUM Radio was king of the castle, in Toronto, and one of the best hit parade AM stations in North America.

A few facts about…

Warrensnetwork started as Radiopro in 1999. At the time, Warren Cosford had been in radio for about 35 years and had made many friends with similar interests, so he started exchanging Information...mostly about Radio and Music. Following 9/11, he added 'The War Interest List' which, since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, has become The Political List.

Over the years, The List has morphed into a broad range of topics and a membership of “more people I've never met than ones I have,” he amusingly admits in a recent e-mail. “We've even, occasionally, become a Search Engine.”

When The Audiovisual Preservation Trust of Canada, the Producer of MasterWorks, a non-profit organization whose mandate is the preservation of our Canadian cultural heritage, wanted to track down the family of guitarist Lenny Breau they contacted The List.

When The Hockey Hall of Fame was trying to identify a member of The Media in a photo from 1967, they contacted The List.

“We tracked both down in less than a day,” he tells. “Also, following the Lac-Mégantic Train Derailment, we made a presentation before Windsor Ontario City Council (where Cosford resides) which resulted in new Legislation requiring more transparency by Railroads.”

There are actually 5 "Lists".....The Radio List, The Political List, The Music List, The Pop Culture List and The Train Derailment List. Write Warren at warrensnetwork@gmail.com

In Passing

Corus is now providing HD Radio broadcasts in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver using HD over FM to deliver simulcasts of its existing AM stations in these markets.

The AM stations being simulcast, using experimental government licenses, are:

— Realscreen's content director Barry Walsh has returned to the role of editor, as managing editor Darah Hansen steps down, effective immediately to return to Vancouver for a new career opportunity. More than a decade back, Walsh served as editor of Canadian Music Network, a weekly music industry trade, and as music editor for HMV.com.

— CKUA turns 90 this year, and so does one of its great champions: Jack Hagerman — known to thousands as the Old DJ, John Worthington who has been with the Alberta public radio FM for decades.

Main Control, the beating heart of CKUA’s Edmonton broadcasts, was renamed the John Worthington Studio last fall, to recognize the impact he continues to have at the station and, on July 27th, it’s all hands on deck to celebrate his birthday.

— Calgary firm RallyEngine has developed a technology to better organize assets, including volunteers, during large-scale disasters.

The company has developed a communications network that can be connected to mobile apps and help organizers bypass time-consuming tasks, such as digging through contact lists, using expensive radio equipment and sending out emails — CBC News

— In the midyear update to its US Local Advertising Forecast 2017, BIA/Kelsey forecasts the overall local media marketplace to experience consistent growth from 2016-2021, reaching approximately $174B by 2021 (compound annual growth rate: 3.8%). However, in the mix, local radio has dropped out of the top five —Radio Online

— The digitalization of Norwegian radio has given the audience a wide variety of channels to choose from, and they seem to appreciate the diversity. A clear trend in Norway’s radio transition is that the new digital channels have increased their support at the expense of the big channels. Radio listening in total is almost as before, however increasingly digital — Radio no

— BBC Radio Scotland is getting a major revamp with the expected result that it will be getting rid of music to become a news and sport station — Herald Scotland

— Oak View Group has acquired Pollstar, the long-running publication covering the concert and ticketing industries, cofounders Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff announced at the company’s inaugural VenuesNow conference in LA on Wednesday (July 12). Through the acquisition, Oak View has taken ownership and operational control of Pollstar’s weekly print publication, Pollstar.com, Pollstar Pro and the Pollstar Live conference.

Leiweke, an American sports executive who is the CEO of Oak View Group, was the former president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) and former President and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) — Variety

David Farrell

David Farrell has worked at the forefront of Canadian music journalism for over 30 years, founding and editing The Record in the 1980s, before launching FYI Music News...